Embarking on a “new journey” of bilateral cooperation, India on Monday extended a $500 million line of credit to Burma as it signed 15 agreements on fields like trade, energy and connectivity with this resource-rich nation, which pledged not to allow its territory to be used by terrorists to target India.
On a historic visit to Burma, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 25 years, Dr Manmohan Singh held extensive talks with Burma President U. Thein Sein, drawing up a roadmap for future course of bilateral ties. After their talks, the two countries signed a raft of agreements to boost energy supplies from Burma to energy-hungry India, enhance trade and cross-border rail, shipping and road links that go beyond bilateralism to cover Thailand.
After being greeted with a ceremonial guard of honour, Dr Singh first held restricted talks with President Sein and then the two leaders led their sides to a larger format of discussions that saw them undertaking a comprehensive review of the bilateral ties and outlining a roadmap for the future. “We have embarked on a new journey of bilateral cooperation,” Dr Singh told Mr Thein Sein, adding “we are committed to strengthening our economic and development partnership.”